Daily Herald the Brown
vol. cxliv, no. 99 | Wednesday, November 4, 2009 | Serving the community daily since 1891
Ethicist Singer challenges man-animal ‘speciesism’ By Sydney Ember Senior Staff Writer
The animal liberation movement is a “far-reaching revolution,” philosopher and animal rights advocate Peter Singer told a packed MacMillan 117 Tuesday night. In his lecture, “Ethics and Animals: Where we’ve come from, and where we need to go,” the world-renowned ethicist shared his controversial views about the ethical basis for giving animals the same moral considerations as humans and the justification for treating all beings as a “community of equals.” “We should give interests equal consideration, whatever those interests might be,” Singer said. “It’s hard to say that species membership should mark a morally crucial divide.” Because animals suffer like human beings and can feel pain, Singer said, humans cannot justify exploiting other species for food production and research. “This equal consideration
Accreditation report comes out today
of interests is one that we routinely violate,” he said. Singer, a professor at Princeton, came to Brown with support from the Brown Animal Rights Club and the Kaleidoscope Lecture Fund, a group promoting the expression of diversity of ideas and opinions at the University. Though his appearances have spurred protests in the past, Tuesday’s talk occurred without incident, save a quiet protest and pamphleting from members of the Lyndon LaRouche movement before the event. Singer began cultivating his provocative stance while studying at Oxford University as a graduate student. His exploration of bioethics was started after a lunch companion piqued his interest in the treatment of animals. When his colleague chose a salad over a meat-sauced pasta, Singer said he wondered why people avoided eating animal products. Un-
By nicole Friedman Senior Staf f Writer
satisfied with the information we got,” Wilson said. The stops, as outlined in the report, seem to be “even-handed,” she added. “There is a general sense that officers are emphasizing appropriate discretion, and there does not seem to be bias,” Wilson said. Indeed, the demographics of those stopped reflected in the data mirror the racial breakdown of the general student body. More men than women were stopped despite
The results of a major external audit of the University and its policies will be made public Wednesday morning, Provost David Kertzer ’69 P’95 P’98 announced at a monthly faculty meeting Tuesday. A team from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges visited this past spring to launch the widescale review, which the University spent more than a year preparing for. The reports have been known to a select group of top administrators and faculty for some time, and the University has begun to respond to some of the recommendations, Kertzer added. Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the body moved to amend rules concerning dismissal of faculty members and heard an update on the recent accomplishments of University research programs. The NEASC review, which is conducted ever y 10 years, evaluates schools on 11 different standards, including their academic programs, students, technological resources and integrity. Since teams of administrators from peer schools lead these evaluations, universities like Brown that are virtually assured of formal re-accreditation often use the process as an opportunity to examine their strengths and weaknesses. The report is “ver y positive,” Kertzer said at the meeting, where he presented some key points and excerpts. Since its last accreditation,
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Nick Sinnott-Armstrong / Herald
In a lecture on ethics and animal rights, world-renowned philosopher Peter Singer called for an “equal consideration of interests.”
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Field stops declined sharply, DPS data trove shows By Ellen Cushing Senior Staff Writer
Instances of Department of Public Safety officers stopping people on campus have declined by more than half since early 2008, according to detailed field-stop reports from DPS. The reports, which the department began releasing in 2007, also suggest that officers have not been conducting stops in a racially-biased manner, members of an oversight committee that reviews the data said.
DPS officers performed many fewer field stops through June 2009 than in the first half of 2008, the data show — 54 people were stopped in the first half of 2009, compared with 130 in 2008. Between July and December 2008, 95 people were stopped. The reports break the numbers of stops down by race, gender and university affiliation of the party stopped. Mark Porter, director of public safety, attributed the decrease to a general decline in crime on campus.
“We’ve managed to reduce crime, so it goes hand-in-hand that our stops would be down,” he said. “We’re all gratified that the number of stops has gone down,” said Associate Provost and Director of Institutional Diversity Valerie Wilson, who sits on the Public Safety Oversight Committee. Wilson said she and the rest of the committee were satisfied with the information these breakdowns yielded. “We looked at the data in great detail, and I think we were all very
Loui’s hits the small screen on Food Network By Jenna Stark News Editor
Jenna Stark / Herald
inside
After 63 years, Loui’s still has strong ties to Brown and the local community.
News......1-5 Sports....6-7 Editorial...10 Opinion....11 Today.......12
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Loui’s Diner has long been famous among Brown students as a good place to end the night, start the morning or a combination of the two — but now the diner’s pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes, muffins and barbecued chicken-and-cheese ravioli may be recognized across the nation. An unmistakable landmark on Brook Street for decades, Loui’s Diner was featured on the Food Network show “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” in an episode that aired on Monday at 10 p.m. The show, which first premiered in 2007,
follows its host Guy Fieri as he crosses the countr y hunting for the best greasy spoon joints — ever ything from clam shacks to burger bars. Enthusiastic customers and the diner’s employees squeezed into the crowded restaurant Mon-
FEATURE day night to watch its five minutes of fame on television and eat delicious food. The screening at Loui’s received lots of laughs and cheers throughout the show and thunderous applause at the end. Fieri described Loui’s as a
“family-owned restaurant” that “still ser ves great food at reasonable prices.” But Loui’s regulars know the diner as much more than a good place to grab a meal. “They’re sort of like family to me,” said Frances Carpenter ’84, a Providence resident. “It has a sense of warmth with the people that hasn’t changed.” Loui’s, a landmark For many Brown students, it is difficult to imagine Brook Street without Loui’s. The diner first opened 63 years ago under the continued on page 2
News, 3
Sports, 7
Opinions, 11
sexy ed Trojan Condoms’ report card gives Brown high marks for sexual health
Volleyball woes The weekend was rough for Bruno, with losses to Penn and Princeton
first aid Simon Liebling ’12 says the U.’s promise to meet financial need is empty
195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island
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Wednesday, November 4, 2009
“Interesting, like everything here is.” — Guy Fieri, Food Network host, on granola pancakes at Loui’s
For five shining minutes, Loui’s Diner gets Food Network spotlight continued from page 1 management of Louis Gianfrancesco, then a 25-year-old Italian immigrant. Before opening the diner, Louis and his brother ran a market in Eagle Park but temporarily left the grocer y business to enlist in the U.S. Army as cooks during World War II, said Nina Cullinane, Louis’ granddaughter, who now works in the diner. Many of the diner’s recipes originated from the brothers’ Army cookbook, though some have been modified over the years, according to Cullinane. “The home fries are what the soldiers in World War II were eating,” she said. After WWII ended, the Gianfrancesco brothers reopened their market in Eagle Park and built new property at 286 Brook St. The new building held a grocery store on its top floor and a diner in the basement, said Johnny Gianfrancesco, Louis’ son, who now runs the diner with his brother full-time. The grocer y store delivered food directly to Rhode Island residents’ homes, even putting food that needed to be kept cold in the owners’ refrigerators if they were out, Gianfrancesco said. “It was a dif ferent time,” he added. Loui’s Diner then was ver y different from the institution Brown students know and love today. Customers used “meal tickets” to purchase a set number of meals in advance, and the menu consisted of more standard diner fare, such as pot roast and meatloaf, Gianfrancesco said. Eventually, as the diner attract-
ed more and more business, the grocery store closed. Running the diner was no easy task — Louis insisted that the diner’s doors be open from 2 a.m. to 12 p.m., Gianfrancesco said. The diner, which was known for its friendly atmosphere as well as its odd hours, catered to both Providence residents and local college students who would come to restaurant in need of hearty food after a night on the town. As Louis aged, the diner’s hours evolved, although they remain distinctive. Loui’s now opens at 5 a.m. and closes promptly at 3 p.m. seven days a week, Gianfrancesco said. The diner’s odd hours have its benefits, including drawing an alternative crowd. “If you open at 5 a.m., you get the drunk people,” Cullinane said. “It used to be more fun before when we were open for late nights,” Gianfrancesco said. He’s considered reinstating the diner’s old hours, he said, but he’s too busy managing the family’s various Providence properties. Louis died in August 1999, leaving the diner in the care of his six children who make sure the diner maintains the same feel its first owner created. “It was always my grandfather’s passion,” Cullinane said. Home fries and Hollywood Last year, Loui’s Diner received a call from “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives,” Cullinane said. Fieri, who hosts the show, was referred to the restaurant by a former Johnson and Wales University student, she said. The show, filmed on location
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The Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is an independent newspaper serving the Brown University community daily since 1891. It is published Monday through Friday during the academic year, excluding vacations, once during Commencement, once during Orientation and once in July by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Single copy free for each members of the community. POSTMASTER please send corrections to P.O. Box 2538, Providence, RI 02906. Periodicals postage paid at Providence, R.I. Offices are located at 195 Angell St., Providence, R.I. E-mail herald@browndailyherald.com. World Wide Web: http://www.browndailyherald.com. Subscription prices: $319 one year daily, $139 one semester daily. Copyright 2009 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.
Jenna Stark / Herald
Fans of Loui’s gathered there Monday night to see the restaurant featured on the Food Network.
July 29, featured Loui’s granola pancakes, turkey dinner and barbecued chicken-and-cheese ravioli, showing in rapid-fire succession the secret ingredients and instructions behind each signature dish. Each recipe holds surprises — the granola pancakes, for instance, include turmeric and rum along with oats, fruit and honey. In the episode, Fieri called the pancakes “interesting, like ever ything here is.” But the barbecued chicken-andcheese ravioli was clearly one of Fieri’s favorites. “Off the hook,” he said in enjoyment after his first bite. Fieri is not the first celebrity to drop by the diner. John F. Kennedy once sat down for a meal at Loui’s, as have filmmaker Steven Spielberg P’12 and the Beatles’
George Harrison. “My mom still has a check from JFK, Jr. ’83, and she will never part with it,” Cullinane said. But the regular customers — construction workers, Providence locals and Brown staff and students — are the ones who keep Loui’s in business year after year, Gianfrancesco said. “We have a ver y close bond between Loui’s and Brown,” Cullinane agreed. “The atmosphere is great,” said Josh Garcia ’11, who works at the diner on weekends. The diner is a “hodgepodge of locals, students and professors. It is its own community by itself in a one-room
building.” Although Garcia generally works daytime hours, he said he worked the 5 a.m. shift once on a Thursday morning before going to class. “I was so tired I spilled my coffee and cut myself,” he said. Still, Garcia said he wouldn’t want to work anywhere else. “It’s my favorite place in the world right now,” he added. The students who came to Loui’s Diner to watch the show seemed to agree. “I love Loui’s and I love the TV show,” said RISD student Hannah Tarr. But Fieri may have said it best: “What a great place, man.”
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“At Brown, it’s a risk-reduction strategy.” — Naomi Ninneman, health educator, on Brown’s sexual health resources
Trojan gives U. high marks for sexual health By Alex Bell Staff Writer
Trojan Condoms released their annual Sexual Health Report Card last week, ranking Brown ninth among 141 schools across the nation. The report card ranked the University of South Carolina first, followed by Stanford University, the University of Connecticut and Columbia University. “The survey is a great resource for the student health centers to see how they compare with other schools,” said Bert Sperling, president of Sperling’s Best Places, the independent research firm that ran the study. “I don’t think there’s anything else like this out there.” Criteria for the four-year-old survey include students’ opinions of their health centers, as well as the quality and cost of sexual health resources and services at schools, according to Sperling. To acquire their data, researchers sent a questionnaire to each school’s health services department to gather basic information on services provided. They also evaluated the departments’ Web sites and polled students through Facebook. Sperling said the firm’s Facebook advertising campaign asked students from each school in the study to respond to a list of questions regarding their student health centers and sexual issues. The campaign brought in some 7,000 responses total, with an average of 50 per school, and no less than 20 from each school, Sperling said. Brown has always been in the top third of the ranked schools and has increased in rank every year, from 17th last year and 39th the year before. This year is Brown’s first time in the top 10. Brown Health Educator Naomi Ninneman said she was skeptical about the accuracy of the rankings. “The reason we moved up last year was because they hadn’t really done their research, to be honest,” Ninneman said. Sperling admitted that the evaluation relied more heavily on anecdotes than it does now. This year, a new condom dispenser in the bathroom of J. Walter Wilson was likely an important factor in increasing the University’s score, Ninneman added. Brown scored in the 97th percentile in the Facebook student polls, Sperling said. “Students felt that Brown was doing a very good job with the health center, has complete services, is trustworthy — that sort of thing,” he said. Ninneman said Brown’s approach to sexual health includes information programs — such as “Sex Jeopardy,” table-slipping campaigns, guest speakers and the Health Services Web site — and supplies provided at low costs, including condom dispensers, cheap condoms available on resident peer counselors’ doors and contraceptives available at Health Services. Sperling also said Health Services’ Web site was easy to use.
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Singer: Factory farming in societal ‘blind spot’ continued from page 1
Lara Press / Herald
Trojan’s Sexual Health Report Card gave Brown high marks for easy access to contraceptives.
Health Services’ HIV-testing program is in the “top tier” and its hours of operation are excellent, he said. Still, Sperling has a few tips for “fine-tuning” the University’s programs. “There could be more flexibility as far as students who wanted to drop in and didn’t want to make an appointment, for instance,” he said. Though rare, some schools’ student publications include columns for students to read responses to anonymous questions about sexual health. These columns boost the schools’ scores significantly in the category of availability of anonymous advice, Sperling said. The University’s ratings for student peer groups and for lecture and outreach programs were also not as high they could be, he said. “There was some use of that, but it wasn’t as good as other schools,” he said. Male Sexuality Workshop facilitator Michael Tackeff ’12 said the average rating for student groups is “very bizarre.” “I’d have to disagree,” he said. “All of my friends at Ivies and other schools don’t have anything like this, so it surprises me that they’d say we’re not cool with student groups.” Sperling said he would also like to see a specific section on Heath Services’ Web site “that targets sexual health and awareness.” Another category for the ranking was contraceptive availability and cost. “Whenever something was provided for free, that definitely improved the rankings,” Sperling said. He noted that Yale was able to score some extra points in this category for providing free emergency contraception. Ninneman said Brown provides many safer sex resources at minimal cost, but providing them for free would not be feasible. The five lowest-ranking schools have Christian affiliations, including nearby Providence College, which ranked third-to-last. The study did not directly penalize schools that
advocated abstinence, Sperling said. But, he added, those schools often do not provide sexual-health resources or inform students about safer sex, and thus rank lower. “At Brown, it’s a risk-reduction strategy,” Ninneman said. “Studies show that making condoms available does not increase sex, but it makes sex safer and students healthier.”
satisfied with traditional justifications for animal exploitation — Singer cited arguments of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas as examples of flawed rationalization — he began examining the fundamental principles that ostensibly divide animals from humans. “I decided species is not going to be the criterion that is going to separate us from non-human animals,” he said. “Clearly, we are violating the most basic interest of animals in order to produce their flesh.” Factory farming — the widespread industrial practice of raising livestock in high-density confinement — should be abolished, Singer said, adding that society has developed an ideological “blind spot” to defend the practice. Despite the continued mistreatment of animals, Singer said, the animal liberation movement has made “encouraging progress.” Some states have passed legislation barring certain methods of confinement, such as tight chains that can cause lacerations, he said. But Singer said there would always be a “significant amount of suffering inflicted on animals” unless there is more widespread consumer resistance.
“We don’t have any big stake in continuing to eat animal products — that was a terrible pun, sorry,” he said, eliciting laughter from the audience. “We are going to have to abandon animal products as part of our diet.” But Singer was quick to stress that some circumstances make a meat-free diet impractical, adding he would not demand similar reforms in impoverished areas that depend on meat consumption for survival. In order to transition to more ethical animal treatment, Singer said people should eat meat substitutes and develop non-animal or computer models for research. “I don’t think there’s anything inherently unethical about eating an animal,” he said. “It’s more a matter of weighing up interests.” During a question-and-answer session following the lecture, Singer discussed rationed health-care reform, the justifications for owning companion animals and the ethics of watching a cat play with a mouse. After again encouraging a reduction in worldwide meat consumption, Singer acknowledged the inherent difficulty in his ideological revolution. “This is no doubt going to take a lot of time,” he said. “Some people find it hard to give up the taste of bacon.”
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“She is in the vanguard of a new generation of academic leaders.” — Leslie Anne Miller, Mt. Holyoke Board of Trustees chair
Alum appointed president of Mount Holyoke By Sarah Julian Staff Writer
Brown graduate Lynn Pasquerella PhD’85 will be the 18th president of Mount Holyoke College, the school announced on Monday. Pasquerella was selected Oct. 31 in a special meeting of the Mount Holyoke Board of Trustees after a unanimous recommendation from the Trustees’ search committee. “Lynn represents the ideal of a Mount Holyoke education,” said Leslie Anne Miller, chair of the Board of Trustees, in a Holyoke news release. “She is in the vanguard of a new generation of academic leaders who are taking the helm at a time of great challenge and opportunity for top liberal arts colleges.” Pasquerella earned her doctorate in philosophy from Brown after receiving her bachelor’s degree from Mount Holyoke, a women’s college in South Hadley, Mass., in 1980. Pasquerella is currently the provost of the University of Hartford, where she will remain until she assumes the Mount Holyoke presidency next summer. University of Hartford President Walter Harrison, in an e-mail to the school community, asked students to “please join me in cheering and crying at the same time as Lynn accepts this important position.”
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Outside team says U. has room to improve continued from page 1
Courtesy of Mary Noble Ours
Lynn Pasquerella PhD’85 will be Mount Holyoke’s 18th president.
“She and Mount Holyoke have a very bright future indeed,” he wrote. Before working at the University of Hartford, Pasquerella taught philosophy at the University of Rhode Island. She later became an associate dean of the graduate school and later served as an interim vice provost. At her swearing-in ceremony, Pasquerella spoke about “the singular value of women’s education and the challenges of articulating the worth of liberal learning in contemporary society.” This sentiment reflects the general theme of her work
and research, much of which relates to ethics and women’s issues. Pasquerella spoke about her work with the Africa Center for Engineering Social Solutions in Kenya, where she promotes clean water delivery and sustainable agriculture by empowering local women. She also reflected on the difficulties she faced as the child of a single parent, her reliance on Pell Grants and the support of friends and classmates to succeed at Mount Holyoke. Pasquerella will take office on July 1.
Brown has shown “tremendous progress” in its graduate school and is more directed in its expansion, the NEASC team found, according to Kertzer. “Brown’s big ambitions necessitate a strong central organizing focus, and (the Plan for Academic Enrichment) provides such a focused and guiding force,” one excerpt shared with the faculty reads. The report also compliments Brown’s “deeply loyal” and “ver y knowledgeable” Corporation. But the NEASC team also offered a range of recommendations, including adding more Graduate School alums to the Corporation, increasing faculty participation in University governance and instituting more comprehensive evaluation of “student learning outcomes,” Kertzer said. The evaluation team was particularly concerned that, because of Brown’s lack of distribution requirements, many students lack any exposure to the life and physical sciences. According to recent data, 6 percent of students graduate having taken no math or science courses, and 15 percent graduate having taken just one math or science course, Kertzer said. Another criticism leveled by the NEASC team was that the University’s rate of granting tenure to junior professors is unusually high — a point Kerzter shared with the faculty at a meeting earlier this fall. According to the report, 70 percent of academics who join Brown as assistant professors are ultimately granted tenure. The report said that while most faculty are not bothered by this number, a small few are calling for “greater rigor.” That “minority voice,” the report said, “must become considerably more forceful.” Kertzer said he was unsure how the NEASC team had determined faculty members’ opinions on the tenure rate. “I don’t think they took a poll,” he said. Earlier this year, the University formed an ad hoc committee to review its tenure policies, which hopes to present a report to the faculty next semester, according to Kertzer. Associate Professor of Applied Mathematics Govind Menon PhD’01 was recently added to the committee’s roster in response to a
concern that junior faculty were not adequately represented, Kertzer said. Menon received tenure in 2008. At least one of the report’s recommendations has been addressed entirely, Kertzer said: The University now has high-per formance computing capability — which the report suggested it obtain — thanks to a partnership with IBM, he said. The faculty also voted unanimously Tuesday to recommend that the Corporation amend the Faculty Rules and Regulations regarding the dismissal of a faculty member. “The spirit is to clarify the situation and correct some of the inadequacies of the previous faculty rules,” said Chung-I Tan, chair of both the physics department and the Faculty Executive Committee. The new language explains the procedures surrounding the dismissal process and clarifies the various causes for dismissal. After lengthy faculty discussion, three “friendly amendments” were added to further clarify the text. Still, “the guidelines can never be clear enough to tell committees what to do,” President Ruth Simmons reminded the faculty. “They have to use their judgment.” Vice President for Research Clyde Briant also updated the faculty on his office’s recent accomplishments and spoke about ongoing partnerships and efforts to “develop an entire research culture here at Brown.” The University has already reaped $31 million for research from the federal stimulus bill, he said, adding that the Office of Sponsored Projects is hoping to expand its staff to accommodate the increased workload of submitting more research proposals. “We’re living in a time where regulation is higher than it’s ever been,” he said, which means the process of compiling a grant has grown increasingly lengthy. “We do want to assist the faculty as much as possible.” Though Simmons was scheduled to give her monthly report at the faculty meeting, she asked to be moved to the end of the agenda after faculty discussion lasted longer than anticipated and ended up without time to speak.
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Summary statistics shed light on crime continued from page 1 the fact that Brown’s student body tilts slightly female. Concerns about bias in DPS’s field stops ignited the campus in the fall of 2006, when officers who detained Chipalo Street ’06 MA’07 faced accusations of having used excessive force. The incident spurred students to found the now-defunct Coalition for Police Accountability and Institutional Transparency. That incident, Wilson said, provided a “real educational moment.” Since then, DPS has made several moves to increase transparency and communication with the community, officials said. Those included creating the PSOC and releasing the field stop data. “All of those things that were unanswered questions in the past are now right there in the data,” Wilson said. The goal of the reports is to enhance the community’s trust in public safety officers, PSOC member Evan Holownia ’11 wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. “I think that DPS releases the data for the sake of transparency, so that there are no questions as to the validity of an officer’s decision to stop individuals or motor vehicles when there is suspicious activity,” Holownia wrote. “The reason for publishing the data, therefore, has to do with students’ right to be aware of the details surrounding investigatory stops and inquire about their legitimacy.” Wilson said the report was symbolic of a wider effort on the part of DPS to communicate with the Brown community. “The numbers only tell one part of the story,” she said. “Greater communication out to the community — that’s the other part of the story. And communication has been much better around the whole issue of the
presence of the police and public safety on campus.” Shane Easter ’10, who joined Co-PAIT after the Street incident occurred early in his freshman year, said he applauded DPS’s efforts at transparency but remains skeptical of DPS and the data. “I want to have faith in DPS and assume that those numbers are valid numbers,” he said. “The fact that they are keeping track of those numbers is an important effort, and I commend them for making that effort.” Wilson said that she does not believe the decrease in stops is indicative of flagging commitment on the part of DPS to pursue leads or report data. “I think this just means a good job is being done here,” she said. “I think the information presented is comprehensive.” Senior Vice President for Corporation Affairs and University Governance Russell Carey ’91 MA’06, also a member of PSOC, echoed Wilson’s sentiments. “We have a high degree of confidence that officers are documenting these stops appropriately,” he said. In addition to increasing transparency, DPS has made an effort to improve of the clarity of its grievance procedures. Anyone stopped by DPS has the right to ask why, Porter said, and those who think they have been unfairly targeted may file a complaint. “Students should know that they have every right to question officers’ decisions to stop them, especially if they feel that the stops were unwarranted or inappropriate,” Holownia wrote. “PSOC reviews complaints and cases to ensure that there is no misconduct.” DPS officers receive training on how to appropriately handle a stop, Porter said, including education about how to identify what legally
Freddy Lu / Herald
Department of Public Safety officers stand watch outside the Salomon Center.
merits a stop and detailed training on how to conduct themselves during a stop. The reports are not limited to information about field stops. They also show that in the first six months of 2009, DPS reported about 19,000 service and emergency calls, about 11,000 of which were summons to University buildings for routine problems like lock-outs. The calls resulted in 873 incident reports. Officers performed 21 motor vehicle stops between January and June this year, up from 17 over the same priod in 2008, according to the
reports. DPS officers were first given authorization to stop suspicious motor vehicles in January 2008. According to Porter and Carey, the field stop report was originally launched in 2007 as part of the department’s Field Stop Integrity Initiative, which aimed to “enhance the department’s policies and protocols around field incidences” and prevent bias, according to Porter. Porter and Carey said the FSII came primarily out of the decision, made in early 2006, to allow DPS officers to carry firearms. “It was around that time that
we were arming the department,” Porter said. “We wanted to make sure that we had the best practices for being proactive about insuring impartial policing.” Carey said that the decision to implement the FSII did not come directly out of the Street incident, but rather from a general impulse toward greater transparency. “A large part of it is around the issue of trust,” Carey said, adding that officers’ ability to protect the community “is directly related to the relationship the students, faculty and staff have with the officers.”
SportsWednesday The Brown Daily Herald
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 | Page 6
Volleyball drops two in tough weekend
Favre more hate-able than ever
By Elisabeth Avallone Spor ts Staf f Writer
The volleyball team saw disappointing results this weekend, falling to Princeton, 3-0, on Friday night and to Penn, 3-1, the following afternoon. With the losses, Brown drops to 5-15 overall this season and 1-8 in the Ivy League. Princeton 3, Brown 0 Princeton dominated the first set as it earned a 25-16 victor y. Despite the strong performance of Spencer McAndrews ’12, who totaled 13 assists, two digs and two kills, the Bears were unable to match up against the Tigers, falling 25-15 and 25-14 for the sweep. Brianna Williamson ’11 powered the Bears’ attack with nine kills and six digs. Katrina Post ’13 and Ann continued on page 7
Herald File Photo
The volleyball team dropped two games over the weekend and dropped its season record to 5-15.
Men’s water polo on the up and up with victory over MIT By Liza Jones Contributing Writer
As the Northern Division Championships swiftly approach, men’s water polo appears to be playing stronger than ever. In their recent game against MIT on Sunday, the Bears edged out the Engineers, 14-12. MIT took the lead, 4-2, after eight minutes of play. But the Bears did not let this crush their
morale, and they scored six goals to MIT’s one in the second quarter, leading to a halftime score, 8-5, in favor of Bruno. Despite MIT outscoring Brown, 7-6, in the second half, the Bears’ impressive second quarter allowed them to still claim victor y. The win would not have been possible without Gordon Hood ’11 leading the offense. Of the 14 goals scored, Hood contributed seven, along with three assists.
In honor of his performance, the Collegiate Water Polo Association named Hood this week’s Player of the Week. Hood was not the only Bear to receive honors from the CWPA. Svetozar Stefanovic ’13 earned Rookie of the Week honors as well, bringing his weekly award total to eight. Living up to his honors, Stefanovic notched two goals against MIT, as did fellow freshman Ryan Gladych ’13. The team’s two seniors, Kent Holland ’10 and Zach Levko ’10, both had strong games on Senior Day. Head coach Felix Mercado said there is no question that these two seniors have done a good job in leading the team this season. Holland commanded the cage with 14 saves, while Levko added a goal to contribute to the win. Brandon Yoshimura ’11 and Corey Schwar tz ’11 each also
scored a goal. “Overall, I thought we played okay — it wasn’t a perfect game but the impor tant thing is that we came out with the win, and offensively we have built some momentum going into the championship,” said Mercado. But he admitted that some things need to improve defensively before this weekend. With the confidence of this win sitting in their pocket, first-seed Brown is now ready to travel to Cambridge this weekend for the Northern Division Championship semifinals on Saturday. Brown will play the winner of the Har vardMIT game. Mercado said his main worr y about the team this weekend is the overall level of confidence. While they have the ability to beat ever y team, that does not mean anything if they “don’t show up mentally,” he said.
It’s hard to believe the NFL season is half over. It was only two months ago when NFL fans still thought the Tennessee Titans had a legitimate chance of Ethan Hammerman winning the Nailed Super Bowl, the Indianapolis Colts could have trouble adjusting to the new regime of Jim Caldwell and the Buffalo Bills — with the addition of Terrell Owens — would become one of the top passing teams in the NFL. But instead of any of these possible storylines, another one, just as intriguing if not more so, has emerged: the increased hate-ability of Brett Favre. To be fair, this started two offseasons ago. You know, the first time Favre retired. Favre had played out his career in Green Bay and truly was, and is, one of the best quarterbacks to ever play. With his charismatic leadership, strong arm and iron-clad gut, Favre led the Packers to success after success. Even more interesting was the relationship between Favre and his cheesehead brethren. Green Bay is the smallest city in the country to host a major professional sports team. The team is publicly owned by fans as shareholders. Football Sunday at Lambeau Field is like a religion, and Favre was the Jesuslike figure to propel them to victory. Then, the 2007 offseason came around, and Favre said he wanted to retire. Finally, he was leaving the game. The city of Green Bay treated it like a day of mourning. Flags were flown at half-mast, and the true cheeseheads were profoundly saddened but proud of all that Favre had done for their small organization. But come training camp, Favre wanted back in. And, mind you, this was after Aaron Rodgers had been entrenched as the starter, the heir to Favre’s throne. Favre came back to Green Bay and started to create a ruckus. He whined about not getting the opportunity to play. And then general manager Ted Thompson had enough and shipped him off to the New York Jets, where he languished through a 9-7 season and missed the playoffs. Now, I was a little bit surprised about, well, the lack of reaction that came with Favre’s trade. Sure, some people were upset that he had been spirited away in the dark of night. But others actually defended Favre, saying that he just wanted to play and was treated unfairly by the Packers’ management. Besides, he did go to the AFC — he wouldn’t have to face his former team. So the season went on as usual and people ended up ignoring it for the most part. Then Favre retired again. And continued on page 7
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
S ports W ednesday Favre moves from champ to chump continued from page 6 rumors spread of him meeting with coach Brad Childress of the Minnesota Vikings. This was a problem. I know that when I first saw this on ESPN News, I was appalled. How could Favre do this? Turn on the team that had supported him for so many years, the fans that had named their kids after him, the religion that had been spawned in Green Bay due to his great play? It seemed impossible. And then, eventually, he signed with the Vikings. Now they are 6-1 after beating Green Bay for the second time this season on Sunday. There was once a time when Favre was considered one of the nicest guys in the NFL. He was thought of as a good role model, someone who stood for something more important than 60 minutes on a football field. But now that has all changed. Favre was corrupted by money, like so many are. His desire for more power overcame his loyalty to the city that he called home for so long. And now the people who once loved him booed him as he came onto the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field last Sunday evening. Favre was once an all-time champ. Now, in my book, he’s an all-time chump.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Volleyball falls to Penn and Princeton at home continued from page 6 Cowell ’10 earned six and five kills, respectively. Carly Cotton ’13 held down the defense with a team-high 13 digs. With the win, the Tigers moved to 7-12 overall and 5-3 in the Ivy League. Penn 3, Brown 1 The Bears had a tough start on Saturday afternoon as the Quakers took the first two sets, 25-18 and 25-16, respectively. Penn’s momentum, seemingly carrying into the third set, was interrupted by Brown’s encroachment on a 17-13 deficit. Tying the game at 21, Brown battled point for point, forcing Penn to make a series of errors. The errors proved fatal for Penn, as Brown stormed on for a 28-26 victory, bringing the score to 2-1. But Brown’s success was hampered by a fourth-set loss, 25-18. “I was ver y pleased with the way we competed against Penn,” said Head Coach Diane Short. “They’re undefeated in the Ivy League and we took a game away from them, so that was nice to see. It was a team effort, but two players in particular stand out in my mind: Ann Cowell, with her blocking
and hitting, and Carly Cotton defensively.” Cowell added seven kills for the Bears’ cause, and Cotton put up a strong fight on defense with 26 digs. Annika Gliottone ’12 also had an impressive match, earning 13 assists and 17 digs and limiting Penn’s attack to a .214 hitting percentage. Megan Toman ’11 led the Bears on attack with 11 kills as Williamson, again, stepped up with eight kills and ten digs. “Saturday we matched up against the Ivy League champs and we played with a lot of heart, the most heart our team has seen thus far,” Williamson said. “I was really proud of the way we came out after Friday’s loss. No one expected us to get a game off Penn.” Penn remains undefeated in the Ivy League at 9-0, and 18-4 overall this season. The Bears are back on the road this weekend against Dar tmouth on Friday night and Har vard on Saturday afternoon. “We beat Dartmouth before, so I’m looking for ward to seeing us use that confidence to do it again,” said co-captain Danielle Vaughan ’10. “Hopefully we can come home with two wins this weekend.”
Herald File Photo
Women’s volleyball struggled this weekend and will hit the road this weekend with games against Dartmouth and Harvard.
World & Nation The Brown Daily Herald
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 | Page 8
Report links obesity to swine flu complications By Thomas Maugh II and Karen Kaplan Los Angeles T imes
Obesity appears to be a risk factor on a par with pregnancy for developing complications from an infection with pandemic H1N1 influenza, according to the most comprehensive look yet at swine flu hospitalizations. About a quarter of those hospitalizations complications have been in people who were morbidly obese, even though such people make up less than 5 percent of the population. That fivefold increase in risk is nearly the same as the sixfold increase observed in pregnant women, according to the report published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Even the merely obese were at increased risk of severe cases of swine flu, the analysis found. Although 34 percent of Americans are obese, they accounted for 58 percent of the hospitalizations in the study. “It makes intuitive sense,” said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who noted that obese people have a higher risk of many diseases and thus a lower life expectancy. “It should be added as one of the underlying conditions.” The CDC considers adults to be obese if their body mass index is 30 or above and morbidly obese if their BMI tops 40. A person who is 5 feet, 8 inches tall would be obese if he or she weighs at least 197 pounds and morbidly obese if he or she weighs at least 262 pounds. Researchers have seen anecdotal reports that the obese might be at greater risk of complications from infection, but it has never been clear whether this was a result of obesity or of associated risk factors. In the study, which analyzed data from the 1,088 swine-flu-related hospitalizations in California from the beginning of the outbreak this spring through Aug. 11, research-
ers from the state Department of Public Health identified 268 adults whose BMIs were known. Of those, 156 were obese, including 67 who were morbidly obese. Forty-six of those obese adults died, according to the study. In addition, 19 percent of hospitalized swine flu patients between the ages of 2 and 17 were considered obese, with a BMI above the 95th percentile for their age. None of those patients died. The researchers found that twothirds of the obese patients had a health problem that was previously recognized as an underlying risk factor for swine flu. The most common were chronic lung disease, heart disease and diabetes. But that left one-third of obese patients without other risk factors, said Dr. Janice K. Louie, the lead author of the study and chief of the state health department’s influenza and respiratory syndromes section. There are many possible explanations. The lungs of obese patients are compressed because the abdomen presses up on the diaphragm. In addition, the chest wall is heavier so it’s more difficult for the lungs to stay inflated. Both of those things make it difficult for blood and oxygen to travel throughout the lungs and fight infection, said Dr. Lena Napolitano, chief of acute-care surgery at the University of Michigan Health System. She recently published a report in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on 10 swine flu patients admitted to the ICU there. Of the 10, nine were obese, including seven who were morbidly obese. The compromised immune system of obese people probably also plays a role, said Dr. David Heber, director of the Risk Factor Obesity Program at the University of California, Los Angeles’ David Geffen School of Medicine. Scientists believe that obese people have a baseline level of inflammation that diminishes the body’s ability to fight diseases.
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McDonnell sweeps to victory in Va. By Rosalind Helderman and Anita Kumar Washington Post
WASHINGTON — Virginians elected Republican Robert McDonnell the commonwealth’s 71st governor Tuesday, sweeping the GOP to power and emphatically halting a decade of Democratic advances in the critical swing state. The former state attorney general defeated Democratic state Sen. R. Creigh Deeds in rural and suburban areas, among conservatives and independents alike. Boosted by a political mood shift that has left many voters cool to Democrats, McDonnell, 55, prevailed with a promise to create jobs in the down economy and fix the state’s clogged roads without a tax increase. His campaign avoided the hot-button social issues that in recent elections had alienated voters in Northern Virginia and other urban centers. And he benefited from a lackluster Democratic opponent whom voters came to know in good part from a video clip in which he waffled and stammered when asked if he would raise taxes. Deeds, 51, failed to re-create the voting coalition that last year helped Barack Obama become the first Democratic presidential candidate to capture Virginia in more than four decades. Many of the black and young voters who had helped send two Democrats in a row to the governor’s mansion and two Democrats to the U.S. Senate stayed home Tuesday. In the campaign’s final days, Deeds made an explicit appeal to Obama voters that a vote for him was a vote in support of the president. But earlier, he had distanced himself from Obama’s agenda, especially on health and energy policy. Republicans swept the state’s top three jobs, as Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling easily won reelection and Fairfax Sen. Ken Cuccinelli II, one of the most socially conservative members of the Richmond legislature, was chosen to become the next attorney general. McDonnell won by dominating Deeds among independent voters, controlling rural areas and benefiting from relatively low turnout in populous suburbs. McDonnell reversed the political order in the Washington region’s suburban outer counties, appearing to win Loudoun and Prince William counties, which went for Democrat Timothy Kaine for governor four years ago. McDonnell defeated Deeds in every other region of the state, winning by a particularly wide margin in rural areas, which the Democrat had labeled “Deeds Country,” hoping to outperform previous Democratic contenders from his base in the Shenandoah Valley’s Bath County. The three Republicans inherit a government burdened by a severe budget crisis and a transportation network so underfunded that Virginia will soon lack the matching funds necessary to secure U.S. dollars for road construction. For Republicans to build beyond Tuesday’s improved showing in Northern Virginia, Mc-
Donnell will have to prove that unlike past GOP administrations, he will deliver more resources to Virginia’s most populous and affluent region. At the Richmond Marriott, Republicans who have spent years watching Democrats win election after election roared with excitement as several media outlets called the governor’s race for McDonnell about 8 p.m. Deeds conceded at 8:50 p.m. at the Westin Hotel in Richmond. “Just because we didn’t get the right result tonight doesn’t mean we get to go home and whine. ... We’ve got to keep working and keep fighting, and I’m fighting!” From the start, McDonnell had history on his side: Since 1977, no party that has won the White House has gone on to capture Virginia’s governorship the next year. McDonnell’s campaign — supported, like Deeds’, with millions of dollars from his national party — was on the defensive for only a few weeks, starting with the publication in August of a Washington Post report detailing a master’s degree thesis the candidate wrote in 1989 at what is now Regent University in Virginia Beach. In the thesis, written at the Christian-oriented school founded by televangelist Pat Robertson, McDonnell, then 34, outlined an action plan for strengthening the traditional family and wrote that working women were detrimental to the family. Deeds seized on the thesis, making it the centerpiece of an advertising campaign designed to convince voters that McDonnell was a rightwing extremist who had undergone a disingenuous campaign-year makeover. The strategy appeared to work for a time, as polls tightened. But McDonnell fought back with a series of TV spots featuring supportive testimonials from his daughter, an Army veteran who served in Iraq, and a gallery of professional women who had worked for him in the attorney general’s office. Increasingly, voters said they saw Deeds’s campaign as a largely negative one that failed to define his own vision for the state. McDonnell campaigned on his opposition to federal policies. He criticized the Democratic-led effort to change the nation’s health care system and sided with southwest Virginians who believe that proposed federal legislation designed to curb greenhouse gases would cost jobs in the coalfields of that region. The Republican also relentlessly attacked Deeds over the Democrat’s willingness to raise taxes for transportation improvements. A key turning point in the campaign came in September, when Deeds was caught on camera flailing when swarmed by reporters asking whether he would raise taxes to pay for road improvements. The moment, immediately cut into TV ads aired repeatedly by McDonnell and the Republican Governors Association, highlighted Deeds’ stammering speaking style, caught him snapping at a reporter and made him appear indecisive on the critical issues of taxes and transportation.
“I think taxes are high enough,” said James Thomas, a 39-year-old accountant who cast his ballot for McDonnell at Clarendon United Methodist Church in Arlington County. Born in Philadelphia, McDonnell grew up in Fairfax County and played football for Bishop Ireton High School before attending Notre Dame and marrying a Washington Redskins cheerleader. He pointed to his Northern Virginia childhood frequently in a disciplined effort to convince suburbanites he understood their concerns better than Deeds, who grew up in the state’s rural west. A sure-footed public speaker and a former Army officer, McDonnell came across to many voters as a competent manager and likable family man who rarely wavered from his promise to create jobs amid the state’s worst recession since the Great Depression. “I think McDonnell is better qualified, and he has ideas,” said Debbie Zolp, 51, of Dumfries, who cast her ballot for the Republican after voting for Obama last November and Kaine four years ago. “It doesn’t seem like Deeds has a plan.” McDonnell carefully avoided alienating independents or angering Democrats, taking care at nearly every appearance to praise Obama, especially for championing charter schools and promoting fatherhood. The Republican targeted 10 suburban swing localities outside the state’s three major urban centers in Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads and Richmond. And he reached out to immigrants, a strategy modeled in recent elections by successful Democrats including Kaine and U.S. Sen. James Webb. Although known for a social conservatism deeply informed by his religious faith during his 14 years as a delegate representing Virginia Beach, during the gubernatorial campaign McDonnell studiously avoided controversial such social issues as abortion, immigration and gun rights, largely neutralizing the Democrats’ effort to portray him as an extremist with a stealth agenda. “He’s a breed of Republican candidate I’ve been hoping and looking for that translates Republican values into everyday reality,” said Michael Steele, Republican National Committee chair. “Bob talks about what people want to know.” Deeds sought to be the first governor to hail from a rural part of the state since the 1980s, promising to bring opportunity to corners of the state often forgotten. But he struggled to connect with the Democratic base, at times distancing himself from Obama. Former governor L. Douglas Wilder, a fellow Democrat and the nation’s first elected black governor, declined to endorse him, and prominent black businesswoman Sheila Johnson, a Democrat, supported his opponent, even making a TV ad for McDonnell. continued on page 9
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
wednesday, November 4, 2009
W orld & N ation
After troubled election, re-elected Karzai is conciliatory but offers few specifics
By Alexandra Zavis Los Angeles T imes
KABUL — In his first public comments Tuesday since winning a second term, President Hamid Karzai pledged to form an inclusive government and to tackle corruption, as advocated by the U.S. and many fellow Afghans. But he offered no specific gestures toward his election rival, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah. Nor would he commit to measures that might help restore legitimacy to his administration after a turbulent election marred by fraud. The U.S. strategy to stabilize Afghanistan requires a credible government in Kabul that can support militar y operations and deliver ser vices to help draw civilians from an escalating Taliban insurgency. But the decision Monday by electoral officials to declare Karzai the victor after Abdullah, citing concerns of more fraud, pulled out of a weekend election runoff deprived the president of a genuine win at the polls. President Barack Obama may now find it more difficult to justify major troop in-
creases, which his commanders have recommended to bolster the war effort. U.S. and European leaders are pressing Karzai to reach out to his rivals, including Abdullah’s camp, to help form a government that is serious about improving governance and cracking down on the corruption that has colored his administration. “My government will be for all Afghans, and all those who want to work with me are most welcome, regardless of whether they opposed me in the election or they supported me in the election,” Karzai told a news briefing at the presidential palace. In Washington, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said U.S. officials were looking for Karzai “to move boldly and forcefully to initiate internal reforms, and we stand ready to assist him in that regard, to help him improve governance in Afghanistan, to provide security for the Afghan people and provide the kind of services that the people of Afghanistan deserve. “We want to see how the government is formed. We want to see who he’s going to have in his government,” Kelly said. “We’re
looking for some strong and decisive action.” Karzai said he would welcome Taliban militants who are ready to work with the government. But he has obligations toward his own supporters that could limit the number of top positions available to the opposition. The presence of Karzai’s two sullen running mates at his side throughout the half-hour news conference underlined the president’s troubling ties. To secure another five-year term, Karzai cut deals with regional strongmen, including Mohammed Fahim, a former warlord accused of drug trafficking and human rights abuses who will serve as first vice president in the new government. Fahim denies the allegations against him. Although Karzai was gracious about Abdullah’s campaign, which he noted was “much better” than his own, he avoided answering questions about what role his challenger might play in his administration. “By my accounting he has promised every cabinet post three times over,” said a Western official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Although Karzai sent “all the right signals” Tuesday, the official said, “we’ve heard the words many times before. … The test is over the coming days and weeks, when Karzai makes his cabinet appointments. Then we will have a better idea about his intentions.” Some U.S. officials would like to see Karzai make a few high-profile arrests of corrupt officials, in hopes of helping restore public trust. His refusal to remove the top leadership of the Independent Election Commission, whose members were appointed by Karzai, was one of the reasons given by Abdullah for his withdrawal. The Afghan president acknowledged Tuesday that “we have been tarnished with corruption” and said “we will continue to make every possible effort to wipe away this stain.” But he said through a translator, “The failures in the system and the government cannot only be solved through removals. There are rules and there are regulations and there are laws that need to be reformed.” He also vowed to strengthen an anti-corruption commission established last year.
McDonnell victorious in Virginia continued from page 8 Deeds, who has served in the legislature for 18 years and battled McDonnell to within 360 votes in a race for attorney general in 2005, was the unexpected victor in a three-way primary for the Democratic nomination in June. McDonnell carefully prepared to run for governor for four years. Expecting a tough primary challenge, he instead found himself with a clear path after Bolling surprised the political establishment by skipping a race for governor and seeking reelection as lieutenant governor instead. He outspent Deeds considerably, receiving unprecedented support from outside groups — $9 million from the Republican National Committee as well as significant direct TV buys on his behalf from the Republican Governors Association, the National Rifle Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. McDonnell and Bolling, who ran as a team, agreed early on that they needed to escape from the GOP’s reputation as the “party of no” by campaigning on a series of detailed policy proposals. “We’re now the parties of ideas, and they’re not,” Bolling said.
Editorial & Letters The Brown Daily Herald
Page 10 | Wednesday, November 4, 2009
A le x yuly
e d i to r i a l
Letters, please! letters@browndailyherald.com
t h e b r o w n d a i ly h e r a l d Editor-in-Chief Steve DeLucia
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Providence Plantations Lawmakers in the Rhode Island House of Representatives voted last Wednesday to hold a statewide referendum on the state’s official name. The Ocean State is technically called the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. In November 2010, residents will vote on whether to remove the controversial last three words from the name. We commend legislators for putting the issue to a vote, although we wonder whether it was the best use of their limited time during last week’s crunched session. At issue is whether the term “Providence Plantations” is objectionable and, if so, whether its elimination is in order. Rhode Islanders should be allowed to decide that for themselves. Opponents of the name change point out that the term “plantation,” was, as a matter of historical fact, synonymous with “colony” or “farmland” when Roger Williams introduced it. Supporters note that slaves labored on Rhode Island plantations, that the term brings to mind this country’s legacy of slavery and that Rhode Island played a leading role in the transatlantic slave trade. Both sides have a point. The traditionalists are correct that the historical definition of plantations is innocent of the word’s more sinister connotations. The progressives are right to note that “plantations” has become inextricably linked with slavery in modern usage and that Rhode Islanders traded and owned slaves. These considerations lead us to cautiously oppose the measure to rename Rhode Island. As the report of the University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice notes, “Most Americans today think
of slavery as a southern institution. New Englanders, in particular, have contrived to erase the institution’s presence from their collective memory.” The old name, plantations and all, serves as a potent, if misleading, reminder of Rhode Island’s ugly and extensive involvement with slavery. Without it we fear that Rhode Island’s past will become even more obscure. Last spring we urged faculty members to rename Columbus Day. There are three significant differences between the renaming of Rhode Island and Columbus Day that account for our support of the latter but not the former. First, holidays imply an approval or celebration of their namesakes that state names do not. Second, Columbus bears a direct connection to violence and injustice, while the term “Providence Plantations,” taken in context, does not. Third, New England’s ties to slavery are, we believe, less well-known than Columbus’ misdeeds and more in need of publicity. However Rhode Islanders end up voting, the name change is largely a symbolic issue. In a June article, the New York Times reported on the bill’s practical effect: “state letterheads and documents would be replaced when current supplies ran out.” State buildings will continue to bear the Rhode Island’s old name regardless of the referendum’s outcome. Nevertheless, there are real reasons why voters ought to keep the name the way it is. We hope they pay attention to them. Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.
corrections An article in Tuesday’s paper (“Breathing life into a storied instrument,” Nov. 3) incorrectly identified University Organist Mark Steinbach as a visiting assistant professor of music. Steinbach is a lecturer in the Department of Music. A photo caption accompanying the same article incorrectly identified the instrument a student was playing as Sayles Hall’s Hutchings-Votey organ. While another photo accompanying the story showed Steinbach playing the Sayles organ, this photo showed a student playing the organ of St. Stephen’s Church on George Street. C O R R E C T I O N S P olicy The Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate information possible. Corrections may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication. C ommentary P O L I C Y The editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial page board of The Brown Daily Herald. The editorial viewpoint does not necessarily reflect the views of The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Columns, letters and comics reflect the opinions of their authors only. L etters to the E ditor P olicy Send letters to letters@browndailyherald.com. Include a telephone number with all letters. The Herald reserves the right to edit all letters for length and clarity and cannot assure the publication of any letter. Please limit letters to 250 words. Under special circumstances writers may request anonymity, but no letter will be printed if the author’s identity is unknown to the editors. Announcements of events will not be printed. advertising P olicy The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. reserves the right to accept or decline any advertisement at its discretion.
Opinions The Brown Daily Herald
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 | Page 11
The fallacy of demonstrated need Simon Liebling Opinions Columnist
When the Corporation decided last spring that it would be just and good to accompany a recession and deep budget cuts at the University with still another tuition hike, disregarding once again the student interests to which they are, of course, unaccountable, I heard two prevailing responses. First, well-deserved outrage from students once again called upon to bankroll the Corporation’s indulgent aspirations. But the second, infinitely more aggravating reaction came from the privileged student scabs who said that tuition hikes don’t matter. The people who actually have to pay more have the means to pay more, they said, because everyone else is protected by Brown’s commitment to meet 100 percent of its students’ demonstrated need. Makes sense. If the Financial Aid office guarantees that it will compensate undergraduates for their full need, then every dollar still solicited is a dollar that a family can afford to pay. That privilege, put to use, can go a long way towards helping disadvantaged students. But things don’t work out quite that efficiently or equitably, and so tuition hikes still matter for students concerned about their ability to afford a Brown education (38 percent of Brown students, according to a Herald poll last semester). The first problem is simple sticker shock.
Posted tuition levels, published on Brown’s Web site, in college guides and beyond, can dissuade potential applicants, even those who would have had the benefit of financial aid had they applied. Those choosing on the basis of cost between cheaper public universities and Brown, with its astronomical advertised price, are pushed to the former by the perceived expense of a Brown education, particularly when considering that they are less likely to receive quality college guidance during high school.
and rack up thousands of dollars in debt, forcing them to worry about money from the moment they matriculate. Others face ultimatums from their families and the prospect of being unable to return to Brown, giving up the quality education they have worked so ceaselessly to earn. Take the case of one Brown sophomore who was rebuffed twice by the Financial Aid office — initially after applying and later on appeal. For the four years from 2003 to 2006, her family’s average annual income was $20,000,
Despite its supposed commitment to meet all demonstrated need, Brown leaves deserving students without the aid they require. Then there’s the fact that Brown remains need-aware when evaluating international applicants. For them, tuition hikes mean a real increase in the cost to their families. And so the international student community on which the University prides itself winds up a cross-section of the international aristocracy rather than of the diverse societies we would prefer it represent. But above all else, Brown — despite its supposed commitment to meet all demonstrated need — leaves deserving students without the aid they require, and so long as that is true tuition hikes will carry real consequences for students when money is in short supply. We are surrounded by the empirical evidence of this failure. Students take on loans
less than half of Brown tuition. Her parents took out a second mortgage on their home, emptied their general savings accounts, exhausted the education funds stashed away for her and her brother, borrowed from relatives and racked up credit card debt. But because in 2007 her father made $290,000 on a one-time stock option, she received no aid. That money couldn’t go towards her tuition expenses. Her family had to use it to pay off their massive debts and rebuild their savings — her brother will be heading to college himself next year. Worse still, though she applied as a member of the Class of 2011, Brown instead offered her a space in the Class of 2012 and did not show her a financial aid package before they
asked her to commit. She sacrificed significant need-based and merit-based aid at other schools and $5,000 a year in outside scholarships, trusting that Brown would meet her need. “I cried when I got my aid letter,” she says. Left mercilessly adrift by the bureaucrats at Financial Aid, her family told her that they could only pay half, and she’d be responsible for the rest if she wanted to stay at Brown. Still committed to her education here, she took out $18,000 of loans during the fall of her freshman year and paid the rest of her share with money saved from her gap year. The remaining three years will each take $25,000 more. She’ll graduate with $93,000 dollars in debt, and the figure is only that low because she depleted her personal savings too. Her story is a tragic repudiation of the administration’s false pretense to filling all need. Their supposed commitment to meet 100 percent of demonstrated need is an empty promise. The University will meet all need as it defines need, a benchmark it sets far below any realistic measure. With this deft trick, administrators save money for themselves while protecting their right to advertise the ostensibly progressive financial aid policy that brings the University so much acclaim. But for this sophomore and so many others, that famous reputation will be slim consolation as they spend their 20s paying for the failures of financial aid.
Simon Liebling ’12 wants to hear your financial aid stories. He can be reached at simon.liebling@gmail.com.
Alums, foundation should rethink their naivety BY DOMINIC MHIRIPIRI Opinions Columnist This fall, Brown announced its success in hiring arguably the most celebrated African author of all time, 78-year-old Chinua Achebe from Nigeria. An intense social critic, thinker, teacher and award-winning writer, Achebe has for decades established himself as an authority in both Western and African literature — especially his analyses of the relations between these two different cultures throughout history. Among a myriad of achievements, Achebe is a recent recipient of the Man Booker International Prize for fiction, where he bettered such celebrated nominees as Philip Roth, Margaret Atwood and Ian McEwan. To many, Brown’s coup in hiring a talent of Achebe’s stature is a great success, and given his experience and views, an immense addition to the University’s pool of intellectual thought and diversity. I was able to see a lot of reactions to the news by friends and, especially, non-Brown students who expressed everything between great awe and envy at Achebe’s imminent arrival to College Hill. You can imagine how many times I read the most popular cliche used by college students to express the latter feeling: “Oh my God, I am sooooo jealous!” Yet beyond the mild pomp and fanfare that surrounded the news of Achebe’s hiring, a group of Brown alums — members of the Foundation for Intellectual Diversity — led the debate on the wisdom of Brown’s “focus” on Africa and Africana studies. Writing to
The Herald last month, Stephen Beale ’04, Christopher McAuliffe ’05 and Travis Rowley ’02 slammed Brown’s decision to “expand” the already well-catered-for Africana Studies department (“U. should re-think Africa focus,” Oct. 13). They cited the existence at Brown of such resources as the Third World Center, the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America and the Africa Group Colloquium as enough for Brown’s “Africana” needs. Central to their argument, however, was their particular concern for the decision to appoint Achebe as a Brown professor. The alums brought up an old debate on Achebe’s controversial criticism of British author Joseph
minded views on African issues. A member of the Nigerian Igbo tribe like Achebe, Eze emphasized the importance of bringing “great African minds” like Achebe to help Brown dispel the ignorance and myths held by some about Africa. “Racism and stereotyping apparent in famous texts such as Conrad’s ‘Heart Of Darkness’ and D.W. Griffith’s film ‘Birth of A Nation’ should be exposed, as they help us understand why these works are so great or were able to resonate with their target audiences who held the same belief, thus ensuring the success of these texts,” she added in an e-mail.
Reducing Achebe’s enormous and celebrated body of work to a single opinion raised in a hugely controversial debate is a narrow-minded claim that borders on the absurd. Conrad as a “bloody racist.” Achebe attacked Conrad’s work in “Heart of Darkness” as celebrating “the dehumanization” and “depersonalization” of Africans. A significant portion of the negative criticism that Conrad’s book has received has largely hinged on Achebe’s lead. “The University should consider more creative ways to teach its students about the classics of Western literature than calling them racist,” the letter writers concluded. Nkechi Eze ’12 expressed the “naivety” of her assumption, before coming to College Hill, that Brunonians would hold more open-
Hiring Achebe is a huge step towards establishing Brown’s leadership on African scholarship and not a “needless expansion” of the Africana Studies Department. University resources like those cited by the alums are not focused on Africana studies per se — they are open to all members of the Brown community! The Third World Center, in particular, not only caters to the Arab, Asian, Black, Latino, multiracial and Native American communities, but also caters to the overall integration of all these groups into the broader Brown community.
Reducing Achebe’s enormous and celebrated body of work to a single opinion raised in a hugely controversial debate is a narrow-minded claim that borders on the absurd. Not only is Achebe entitled to his opinions, but also some appreciation for his nerve to challenge convention and broaden our analysis of such important texts as Heart of Darkness. Contrary to the alums’ assertion, students ought to be taught not only how to “appreciate” classical Western literature on the surface, but also to criticize, think in different ways and stomach difficult viewpoints from other people. Certainly, excluding radical views such as Achebe’s only muzzles students’ understanding of the dominant view. How can Brown, the same community that changed Columbus Day to Fall Weekend because of its association with an atrocious part of history, bring down an author who stood up to a debatable portrayal of his people? Surely, if Achebe is not welcome here because of his objection to Conrad’s book, then Brown is not only a school where students are happy, but very hypocritical also! Achebe’s arrival at Brown is a giant step for intellectual diversity and literary scholarship. Welcoming him and respecting his work should mirror the words of Luis Rodriguez ’12: “Brown is diversity... racial, religious, economic background, sexual/gender identity… great! How about some respect for diversity of opinion?”
Dominic Mhiripiri ’12 wishes Brown Health Services had a treatment for the “sophomore slump.” He can be reached at dominic_mhiripiri@brown.edu.
Today The Brown Daily Herald
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M. water polo bests MIT
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
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t h e n e w s i n i m ag e s
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c a l e n da r Today, November 4
Thursday, November 5
12 pm — SexPowerGod tickets go on sale, Alumnae Hall
2:30 PM — A reading by poet Ilya Kaminsky, McCormack Family Theater
8 pm — Freedom without Walls Film Screening of “Goodbye Lenin!,” MacMillan 117
Dot Comic | Eshan Mitra and Brendan Hainline
7 pm — “A Career in Making and Marketing Media Brands” with Sergei Kuharsky, CDC, 167 Angell Street
menu Sharpe Refectory
Verney-Woolley Dining Hall
Lunch — Beef Tips with Curry, Cheese Enchiladas, Polynesian Ratatouille
Lunch — Pulled Pork Sandwich, Grecian Zucchini Bake, Fresh Sliced Carrots
Hippomaniac | Mat Becker
Dinner — Chicken Stir Fry, Macaroni and Cheese with Avocados and Tomatoes, Baked Sweet Potatoes with Honey and Chives
Dinner — Sesame Chicken Strips with Mustard Sauce, Egg Foo Young, Sticky Rice
crossword Classic Deo | Daniel Perez
Classic How To Get Down | Nate Saunders
Classic Freeze-Dried Puppies | Cara FitzGibbon